Librarian’s corner: Author Josh Malerman

The Manchester District Library will be highlighting a different author or topic each week. 

by Amelia Herron, Manchester District Library

Josh Malerman is both an author and a musician from Ferndale, Michigan. He started out as a member of the band, The High Strung, and wrote many novels and short stories for himself. But, once one of his friends offered to give a rough draft to someone he knew in a publishing company, Josh Malerman became more than just a band member. His first novel, Bird Box, debuted in 2014, and he has since published two more novels: Black Mad Wheel and Unbury Carol. Malerman’s preferred genre is horror.

Unlike most stories, Malerman’s timeline is a bit jumbled up. Both Bird Box and Black Mad Wheel jump from beginning to middle every other chapter. The beginning catches up to the middle and the story becomes one for the ending. This unorthodox style of writing might be daunting to potential readers, but Malerman’s masterful prose makes the story easy to follow.

Malerman is most well-known for his first novel, Bird Box, which is about a woman named Malerie. It tells a story of both a woman who’s survived the apocalypse and seen many terrible things, and a woman who’s learning that the world as she knows it is ending forever. The apocalypse is bad enough, but Malerie must care for herself as well as the children living and growing inside her.

For as little as $1 a month, you can keep Manchester-focused news coverage alive.

by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.